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Playing since 1965

From a lumpy asphalt court at the state school, where spectators hid under the trees when it rained, to 600 players and a team in the VBL.

Start in 1965 Life members and presidents

Sixty years, give or take

Five chapters, from a lumpy asphalt court to the VBL. The first thirty years are Clinton Grybas's, from the history he wrote for the club in 1995.

  1. Chapter 1 · 1965 to 1974

    The outdoor years

    A women's team on the state school's asphalt, an egg-timer for a clock, and spectators under the trees when it rained.

  2. 1965

    The first baskets

    A senior women's team becomes the first to play under the name Warrandyte, on the state school's asphalt court, through the rain and the heat.

    Gone too is the scorer screaming out 'time' when the egg-timer wound down, often under searing heat in the middle of the day.

    Clinton Grybas, 30 Proud Years

  3. 1971

    A first premiership

    In June the women beat Grace Park in the I grade grand final of the Heidelberg competition. By the middle of the year four girls' sides have joined them.

    The 1971 premiers

    1. Judy Cole
    2. Merri Dann
    3. Kathy Hook
    4. Denise Mayne
    5. Jenny Dann
    6. Kerry Albert
    7. Gill Dann
    8. Heather Bone

    Judy Cole was also the competition's best and fairest.

  4. 1973

    The married mums

    The original side, seven married mums, win a second flag 19-17 over Blue Check, go to Ballarat as the club's first tournament team, and win again later in the year. Robyn Lim, who started at Warrandyte, becomes the club's first Victorian representative.

    Warrandyte had its first Hall of Fame team.

    3 games lost in two seasons

  5. Chapter 2 · 1975 to 1979

    A club is born

    Juniors, men's teams, lights at the Reserve courts, and some very lean years in the bank.

  6. 1975

    Juniors, born of a challenge

    The under 17 footballers challenge the under 17 netballers to a game at the Warrandyte Reserve courts. The score is lost to time; the junior club they started that Sunday is not. Daryl Valentine is the first junior president, and the club's first men's teams take the court.

    The club they created that Sunday afternoon has thrived.

    $67.06 in the bank, after paying for lights at the Reserve courts

  7. 1976

    Two teams to twelve

    Eighteen months after it had two teams, the club has twelve: six men's, three women's and three junior, some playing at the new Diamond Valley stadium. In February, 80 people from the club go to see the Harlem Globetrotters.

    Warrandyte Basketball Club have bounced up from almost nothing.

    Admit one Harlem Globetrotters February 1976
    • Ticket $1.75
    • Return bus $0.80
    • 80 from the club

  8. 1978

    Broke, and still going

    With seniors not paying their subscriptions, the local paper reports the club is broke. There's no money for the premier under 14 girls' presentation night. Spending is slashed, and the club keeps its head above water, but only just.

    $8.77 in the bank, April 1978

  9. 1979

    A first EDJBA flag, and a loss

    Ten junior teams in the EDJBA and a first premiership, to the under 16C girls. In May, president Daryl Valentine dies in a car accident in Warrandyte. Two months later the A grade women he coached win their grand final by a point in overtime.

    A perpetual basketball trophy was struck in his honour. It is awarded annually for a club junior who has contributed most to the club off the court.

    The Daryl Valentine award

  10. Chapter 3 · 1980 to 1986

    The boom

    The high school joins in, Friday nights begin, and stadium plans come and go.

  11. 1980

    The high school joins in

    In March, five teams and 35 players from Warrandyte High School team up with the club, for a record 15 junior teams. Local clinics bring 60 new players, and the club asks for an indoor stadium of its own.

    8 to 26 junior teams in twelve months

  12. 1982

    Friday nights begin

    The club enters its first Friday night championship team, under 13 boys coached by Stan Slabon, with uniforms on the way from the Warrandyte Apex Club: the start of the representative program that became the Venom.

    For the first time, Warrandyte Basketball Club have entered a team in the eastern section of the Victorian Junior Championships.

    Warrandyte Diary, July 1982

  13. 1984

    Stadiums on paper

    A $260,000 sports centre at the high school is planned in 1982, and another with the Doncaster and Eltham councils in 1984. Neither is built. Juniors play mostly away from home or at Park Orchards, where the championship teams train on Sunday mornings.

    50c a week for court hire, Sunday mornings at Park Orchards

  14. 1986

    Off to Albury

    In September the club goes to the first Albury tournament, everyone staying at the Lake Hume Resort. By 1995 it had been back every year bar one.

  15. Chapter 4 · 1987 to 1995

    A home court

    The stadium at Warrandyte High at last, records every season, and thirty proud years.

  16. 1987

    A home court at last

    After plan after plan fell through, the stadium at Warrandyte High School opens in April, with air conditioning and heating. Kathryn Hay plays in Victoria's winning under 16 team and goes to the AIS; she later becomes the club's first national league player, with the Bulleen Boomers in the WNBL.

    Warrandyte basketball finally had a home, somewhere to hang the championship banners.

  17. 1987

    Meeting Michael Jordan

    Four of the club's under 19s, Chris Sharp, Doug Harding, Darren McGinty and David Simpson, tour the USA for four months with a team from schools across Doncaster-Templestowe.

    And the highlight? Meeting Michael Jordan, what else.

  18. 1990

    300 players

    Forty teams and more than 300 players in winter, and a club-run men's competition at the new stadium. Summer 1989/90 brings a record six EDJBA premierships; by winter there are nine.

    300+ players, winter 1990

  19. 1992

    The Redbacks roll on

    Fifty-two EDJBA teams, wins at Eltham, Nunawading, Albury and Dromana, and the under 12 championship boys beat the Melbourne Tigers by three in overtime.

    14 of 19 grand finals won, winter 1992

  20. 1994

    Cups for the grown-ups

    The men's competition becomes the Greyburn Cup, and a women's competition, the Grand Hotel Cup, starts up to fill the gap in women's sport in town. The 18A boys complete a rare double of the elite competitions.

  21. 1995

    Thirty proud years

    Clinton Grybas, then editor of the Warrandyte Basketball News, writes the club's first history.

    In this town for people under the age of 18, it is already so. And long may it prosper.

    Clinton Grybas in a commentator's headset
    Clinton Grybas

  22. Chapter 5 · 1996 to today

    The Venom years

    Clinton's chronicle stops at 1995. The chapters since are still being gathered: if you were there, tell us.

  23. 2024

    Venom Women, champions

    The Venom Women win the Big V Division One championship, the senior program's biggest night.

    The Venom Women on court holding the Division One Women Champions 2024 sign
    Big V Division One, 2024

  24. Today

    600 players, 70 teams

    Redback Rookies, the Redbacks in the EDJBA, and the Venom from under 12s in the VJBL to the VBL: one pathway, run by volunteers.

    600 players a year
Clinton Grybas in a commentator's headset
Clinton Grybas, broadcaster and club life member

Clinton's chronicle

Clinton Grybas, the late ABC and 3AW sports commentator, came up through the club as a junior and edited the Warrandyte Basketball News. For the club's 30th anniversary in 1995, he traced its history from 1965: the first four chapters of the timeline above are his.

He won the Daryl Valentine award twice as a junior and was made a life member in 2012. Thanks to Deana Evans for re-typing his original from a photocopy of a photocopy.

Read the full history (Word, 56 KB)

Life members

The people who gave the club decades of dedication, vision and love of the game.

Life member booklet (PDF)
  • Frank HarperPre 1988
  • John McCartinPre 1988
  • Alan WoolcockPre 1988
  • Bev DayPre 1988
  • Jan Van KuykPre 1988
  • Tom Hay1988
  • Barbara Clark1988
  • Con Arsenis1992
  • Gavin Whitmore1993
  • Paul Haskings1994
  • Stan Slabon1995
  • Lyn Templeton1999
  • Ian Wood2002
  • Damian Arsenis2003
  • Bill Bottomley2004
  • Lorraine Parfitt2004
  • Sue Anderson2006
  • Malcolm Anderson2006
  • Tony Oliver2007
  • Nick Peters2007
  • Stephen Bendle2008
  • Mandy Ratcliffe2008
  • Jenni O'Brien2009
  • Ann Cousens2009
  • Lisa Saunders2010
  • Justin Nelson2011
  • Gerry Pearce2012
  • Clinton Grybas2012
  • Bruce De Lacy2013
  • Doug Hilton2018
  • Catherine MacDonald2019
  • Jenny Leeson2019
  • Dale Leeson2025
  • Cathy Davidson2025

Presidents

With thanks for every year in the chair.

  1. 2024 to nowDarren McGinty
  2. 2023 to 2024Gerard Pelzer
  3. 2022 to 2023Cathy Davidson
  4. 2018 to 2022Emma MacDougal
  5. 2015 to 2018Craig Davidson
  6. 2014 to 2015Richard Cookes, Mark Ronan
  7. 2013 to 2014Bruce De Lacy
  8. 2011 to 2013Richard Cookes
  9. 2009 to 2011Justin Nelson
  10. 2007 to 2009Doug Hilton
  11. 2002 to 2007Stephen Bendle
  12. 2000 to 2002Damian Arsenis
  13. 1998 to 2000Karen Pearce
  14. 1995 to 1997Bruce MacDonald
  15. 1993 to 1995Graeme Riley
  16. 1993Ian Hay
  17. 1991 to 1993Paul Haskings
  18. 1989 to 1991Barry Withers
  19. 1987 to 1989Con Arsenis
  20. 1984 to 1987Neno De Pardo
  21. 1982 to 1983Frank Harper
  22. 1979 to 1984Jan Van Kuyk
  23. 1975 to 1979Daryl Valentine

Club awards

Presented each year to members who make the club better. Any registered member can nominate someone: send it to the Secretary by 1 August.

For a member's significant contribution to the health, welfare and improvement of the club, in keeping with the Code of Conduct.

  1. 2025Cooper Servaas
  2. 2025Josh Radley
  3. 2023Leanne Whitmore
  4. 2019Darren Millett
  5. 2017Cathy Davidson
  6. 2016Cathy Davidson
  7. 2015Cameron Davidson and Jenny Trewella
  8. 2014Richard Cookes
  9. 2013Peter Anderson
  10. 2012Heather Caruana
  11. 2011Jenny Leeson
  12. 2010Justin Nelson
  13. 2009Tony Oliver
  14. 2008Lisa Saunders
  15. 2007Dianne Trenfield
  16. 2006Tony Oliver
  17. 2005Nick Peters and Stephen Bendle
  18. 2004Stephen Bendle
  19. 2003Mandy Ratcliffe

Write the next chapter

Every name on these boards started as a player, a parent or a volunteer. Come and play, or lend a hand.

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A Venom player rising for a shot in a VBL game

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